Thursday, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) sounded off on the current standoff within the GOP over the coronavirus stimulus check amount as President Donald Trump and members of GOP leadership battle over the stimulus check amount sent out to individuals in the latest coronavirus relief bill.
Comer said on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” that he agrees with the $2,000 check amount to individuals being pushed by Trump because a lot of Americans “didn’t feel the effects” of the first stimulus checks from the CARES Act passed in March.
“[I] strongly support the president,” Comer told host Sandra Smith. “One of the problems the Senate has right now is that the president has instilled upon the Republican base that this is direct stimulus to them. Even though I think the CARES Act did a great deal to save our economy with respect to small businesses and keeping workers on the payrolls in a lot of struggling businesses, there are a lot of Americans that didn’t feel the effects of the stimulus. And the president with his plan for $2,000 to every individual that qualifies from an income standpoint is something that’s very popular with Republicans and obviously, it’s popular with the Democrats. If you go back to the stimulus vote last week, one of the problems they had is the leaders in the House on the Senate combined a lot of different bills onto one vote. And in the minds of the base, I think that’s what’s happening right now in the Senate.”
He continued, “I wish the Senate would start having standalone votes on different bills. I think that would be better received by the American people, and I think that would help the Senate get their message out that they are trying to do the right thing and trying to have offsets but at the same time trying to help the American people.”
Comer went on to call on GOP leadership in both the House and Senate to realize that the party is “becoming more populous.”
“A lot of Republicans can successfully make an argument that the CARES Act did benefit an overwhelming majority of Americans, but there are a lot of people on fixed incomes, there are a lot of people, senior citizens, that are on Social Security, and they didn’t feel the effects of the last stimulus,” he emphasized. “The president has instilled in their minds that if they can feel the effect of the $2,000 direct payment. Obviously, the Democrats think that. So, this is something I think Republican leadership and the Senate and in the House for that matter needs to really rethink and try to come up with a plan and have a standalone vote on that. If they want to combine something else with the stimulus bill, they should combine offsets and start with foreign aid. If they start with foreign aid and gave the money that they were going to give to other countries to the American people, I think that would be a huge win. That would help out in Georgia, and that’s something that I think the American people want. Especially the Republican base.”
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